Suffer Love

If I've learned anything in the past six months, it's that life is a fickle little bitch and there's not one damn thing I can do to tame her. It's almost laughable, really.

His eyes said everything. They always did.

The words fall out of my mouth like rain- I felt them coming, smelled them in the air, but there was nothing I could do to stop them.

I watch her duck into the building, a cavern in my chest so huge, I'm sure my next breath will flip me inside out.

If anyone can inspire you to believe in real, honest-to-God love stories again, it's William Shakespeare.

She tilts her head and puts her soft hand on my face, letting her fingertips glide down my neck, to my chest. She flattens her palm there, the heat of her hand searing through my shirt. "You're..." She pauses and I take a breath, my heart thumping madly. "I don't know. It sounds stupid, but... you're like home.

I tell myself that I don't need him. But he's the only person I want right now.

When he finally comes out, I edge down a little in the front seat of my car, torn between wanting to disappear and wanting him to see me so he'll know how much I hate him and love him and every blurry shade of gray in between.

My heart is crushed within me. Here is the truth: You made me love you- your eyes and mouth and voice. You pulled me into your heart. You don't want me there and I don't want to be there, but it's where I will always live.

I wanted you. I wanted us. You made all of this... I don't know. It sounds crazy, but you, in my life- knowing you almost made everything worth it.

Sam and me- star-crossed and still entangled up on a hill overlooking the city. On top of the world. I almost laugh at how ridiculous it is. How silly it is that we found each other, that we grounded each other, that we gave each other a sense of freedom and a home.

This shouldn't make sense," I say. "What?" "Us. You and me." He presses his forehead to mine. "But we do. Maybe it's crazy, yeah, but it makes sense. We make sense.

I'm left with a mouthful of words that wouldn't have made a difference anyway.

Just because you're scared to like someone doesn't make the like go away.

He leans forward and gives me a lopsided grin. "Everything about you is unexpected.

I guess the world really does end with a whimper, he says after a moment. "A whole lot of quiet, a million things left unsaid until it's too late to say them.